Maybe. If it causes them anxiety or dysfunction, then sure. If they think of it as a fun game then it’s a (probably) harmless quirk. A less than optimal use of their time and mental bandwidth to be sure, but the same can be said of me typing right now.
I recall a story of Warren Buffet taking Bill Gates to lunch at a nearby McDonalds. And Warren pulling a coupon out of his wallet to reduce the price paid. They both had a laugh about it. Gates was telling the story first-hand when/where I read/saw it, so not a UL or FOAF.
I follow a blog by a financial advisor whose audience is other financial advisors, not consumers. There are some real nuggets of asset management advice in there pitched at the pro level that I really gain from.
What’s relevant to this thread is that [How to manage the miserly retiree client who refuses to spend what they have] is a perennial topic. As is [How to manage the older client who dislikes their work, has plenty of assets versus their age, yet refuses to stop working because that would mean stopping saving and instead spending. An idea simply unthinkable to them. They would quit eating and breathing before they’d quit saving.]
Agreed, but the major criterion here is just exactly how much trouble and effort you’re willing to go through to save a buck. When my local grocery store bought several pallet-fulls of Planter’s cashew nuts and put them on sale at a heavy discount, I bought four of them because it saved me over $16 with no downside. I have no problem with taking advantage of deals.
But going to a lot of trouble to get your EV charged without paying for electricity is just a game, and it’s a game that normal people don’t play. I suspect that this is just a new EV owner for whom it’s more important to be able to brag about how he hasn’t spent a cent on fuel than on the time and trouble he’s taken to maintain that situation.
Putting in much more effort than it’s worth to save a small amount is generally fine, (I’m guilty of this myself in many ways) but deliberately screwing over all the other customers turns it into very crass behaviour. They are obviously provided for actual customers who have need to charge. He is neither as he is not customer and has no need.
He’s one of those guys like Trump, who says the fact that he is rich and pays no taxes eans he’s smart. Also, born on 3d bas and thinks he hit a triple. Also, he made his considerable coin in a career specifically aimed at assisting the wealthiest avoid/minimize their tax obligations. Not illegal, but not exactly something I personally respect.
So while he’s a nice guy in many respects - plenty of fun on the golf course. And spends money freely on things he wants to. In some respects it seems he wants to game the system - without acknowledging that he is able to do so largely because of his privileged position. And not caring that that might shift costs onto folk who lack his advantages.
So he is fine to interact in many social situations, and I’m glad he and my sister are happy, and they’ve raised 4 really decent kids. But I do not share or respect certain of his values/priorities.
I just searched at it appears that two Walmarts, Springdale AR and Cross Roads TX, offer free charging through the Walmart App (for a limited time).
If this is what he’s doing, it seems fine-ish, as Walmart is giving away this electricity. Of course, if he plugs in, rides away and doesn’t come back for 8 hours, his crime isn’t stealing the electricity Walmart is choosing to give away, his crime is denying access to a charger.
If he’s located an open and poorly monitored 110V outlet, he’s just an electricity thief.
Well, it certainly makes it easy to decide what to give him for his birthday: a 20 pack of AA batteries. Because clearly the guy values free electricity more than anything else.
Mainly I agree: I assume it’s hot where he lives in TX. So he takes up a free charger in the early a.m., and leaves his car there all day? Because who’d want to bike back there until the sun has gone down, right? What a douche.
Agreed. If he is just leaving it for an hour or so he’s likely not getting that much more charge than he used driving there and back. If he’s leaving it there all day then he is taking up the charging space unfairly and in general the signage requests that use be for only x amount of time or while shopping.
He must also not be needing his car much.
I am unsure about the legality but the ethics are clear.
I suspect he also goes into Costco at the right time of day to fill up on free samples. And thinks others are chumps.
I think he is a cheap and selfish person. He is using up a spot meant for an actual Walmart shopper by cheating that way. I’d take a picture of his car and license plate and report him to Walmart.
There is a couple who frequent a dive bar I have visited. They over-consume on a regular basis, but walk to and from the bar so nobody cares.
I watched them one night because they were freaking hilarious. Each time the wife paid for a round, she would thank the bartender profusely and add a few dollars to a pile of cash that she implied would eventually be the tender’s tip.
When the wife was near passing out, she said g’night to all, struggled to put on her coat, and walked home, leaving her tip pile on the bar. Her husband immediately snatched up the tip money, had one more, then left, leaving nothing for the bartender.
Having witnessed the entire thing, I got the bartender’s attention and told her what I’d seen. She laughed. The couple did this all the time and the wife was “in on it”.
(The other wacky thing about this dive bar; there are NO DOGS signs all over the front door. Multiple signs, not just one. Yet any time I’ve been in the bar there are a few dogs.)
There used to be a commercial on late night TV (decades ago, & I’ve looked I can’t find the one I was thinking of on YT but I did find this one…TL/DR is he got so rich by being a penny pincher…& a raging alcoholic if he’s saving that much on cheap wine
If he’s retired, just being cheap & using it as exercise with a purpose (I have to ride my bike to charge my car rather than just riding around the block) & there are enough chargers (I’ve never seen less than 8 Tesla chargers at a given location; rarely all in use) that he’s not screwing anyone then good on him. If there are only two chargers & he’s using one for hours on end then he’s being a jerk.
It’s possible that the “commercial location” in question notices the car that’s been parked in its lot and at a charger all day doesn’t belong to any customers and has it towed. If that happens even once, it would probably wipe out any savings from the free charging.
This reminds me of when I first joined Costco and I would drive out there just to get the cheap gas. Eventually I worked out the city gas mileage on my car, the distance to Costco, the savings per gallon and figured out I was spending approximately two dollars in gas to save one dollar at the pump.
Now I only go to Costco for gas if I actually need to get something there, or at least if I’m driving past it on the way to somewhere else.
I think that describes him well. Weird in that he is this cheap in some instances, and in other instances - vacations/homes/golf - he spends whatever he wishes. I’m not entirely sure of his political position - I think he would not vote for Trump. But he is content to live in the reddest area of a very red state, where the majority of his friends/neighbors share abhorrent views.
To the contrary, we’ve just run the numbers and feel quite comfortable I’ll be able to retire in a couple of years and live quite comfortably, without being a burden on our kids. I’m having to change my attitude from decades of frugality - raising 3 kids on a government salary, towards becoming a little more eager to crack open my wallet and pay for things that aren’t absolute necessities. I’m finding that transition enjoyable. As I suppose he derives enjoyment from his irrational miserly behaviors.
Lots of folks believe life is meant to be played as a con game, not a teacher-supervised example of fair play at recess.
Advantages are meant to be exploited, not passed over. If you can cut in line, you’d be stupid not to. If somebody leaves money on a table you’d be stupid not to take it, since somebody will. May as well be you.
It’s a pervasive belief that everything everywhere and everyone else is selfish and dog-eat-dog, so you’re fully justified in being hard-over that way yourself. It’s essentially cynicism’s selfish cousin.
As to the efficiency of your BILs ignorant behavior:
I learned my gas economy lesson maybe 10-12 years ago when IIRC gas first cracked $4/gal. Became blindingly obvious to me that while it made sense to suss out the cheapest staion along my route, with time and mileage, there would have to be pretty massive savings for me to drive even a mile/5 minutes out of my way.
I find there’s no line if you go before the store opens. Where I live, the store opens at 9am but the gas pumps are available from 6am (7am on Sundays) and I can usually drive right up to the pump if I go that early.
